


The Number 3 - Extras

by Littlemiss23rd



Series: The Number 3 Universe [2]
Category: Powerpuff Girls
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Growing Up, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:15:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24237904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Littlemiss23rd/pseuds/Littlemiss23rd
Summary: Side stories and pre-stories. Stories that I've had of them growing up that just won't be making it into the main work, The Number 3.
Series: The Number 3 Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1749442
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54





	1. Growing Up and Turning Points

Today was the day. The boys had had all summer to get used to living with Mayor Bellum and today, the first day of 5th grade, they would start school with the puffs. She kind of couldn't wait. Buttercup had been glaring at her all morning too so she clearly wasn't doing a good job of hiding it either. She just couldn't help it! This was the first day they'd actually possibly just maybe talk to the boys since they all signed the agreement. She could still remember the small smile Boomer had given her as they had waited for their turn to sign.

Blossom was oddly almost indifferent to the whole thing from start to finish. Bubbles was definitely not looking forward to what would happen if Brick was in her class. He had walked into the room in a bad mood and Blossom's indifference had only seemed to make it worse. She wasn't going to think about that though! Surely as her counterpart, Brick would be placed in the harder class with Blossom right?

Wrong. All three were in her and Buttercup's class. To make it worse, Blossom asked them to keep an eye on him for her! I mean, rude! He's her counterpart, she should be dealing with him, not them. She pouted as the teacher introduced them to the class.

Afterwards all three sat quietly in the three empty desks at the front of the class. The desks right in front of her and Buttercup. She did get lucky though, Buttercup was behind Brick and not her. Which meant Boomer sat in front of her. He sent her a teeny tiny smile that she returned before he sat.

See? She thought. Why can't they all be like Boomer? He was nice! Or well, as nice as they could be she supposed. That was going to change though! They were good now right?

Bubbles pushed those thoughts off to the side though as the teacher started the lesson. Buttercup clearly didn't pay much attention, glaring holes into the backs of the skulls of all three boys. The teacher even let her be, knowing it would be a battle not worth fighting. Overall, the morning half of the day was simple and uneventful.

As soon as they were released for lunch Bubbles and Buttercup both watched the boys as they went to an empty table and sat to eat. It surprised Bubbles slightly to see them calmly take out their lunches and eat them. She wondered if Mayor Bellum had made their lunches for them. She thought it was sweet.

The two sat down at another table that had a clear view of the boys while waiting for Blossom. It didn't take her too long. When she arrived she looked between her sisters and the boys before sighing softly and sitting facing her sisters, her back to the boys. Bubbles could see Brick tense slightly at the lack of attention his counterpart gave them. She wondered why. Was it because it came off potentially as her thinking he was beneath her? Bubbles scowled slightly at that. If so, he was seriously misunderstanding. Bloss probably just thought that the boys deserved their chance and she was properly going to give it to them. That meant that she wouldn't be watching them like a hawk but simply prepared in case something went wrong.

Her sitting with her back to them showed she trusted them to not do something. It also helped Buttercup relax a little unconsciously, giving her something else to split her attention between. If something did happen though, Buttercup would be prepared which meant Blossom would get a warning meaning she wasn't totally letting her guard down. Bloss had picked up a habit of eating in the library last year but had decided she wouldn't be doing it anymore because of the boys. She guessed that Brick would have no way of knowing this though.

She looked over in time to see the red head whack Butch over the head for making faces at Buttercup. Boomer was quietly eating, glancing around occasionally but seeming to shrink in on himself at what he saw. She looked around and saw what he saw. Lots of people were giving them anxious glances and no one was sitting anywhere near their table. That wasn't nice.

Okay but maybe it was a tiny bit justified. She still didn't like it! They signed the paper. They were going to try to be good now! People should give them a chance. Speaking of, Buttercup was starting to growl slightly. She did that a lot, especially considering they weren't the ones made with puppy dog tails. Did the boys growl sometimes? Hmm, something she'd probably find out eventually with them all in the same class.

"Stop that. There's no reason to growl at them Buttercup. They haven't done anything." Blossom snapped at her sister. She sounded tense. Could she feel the glare Brick was giving her? Maybe that was why.

"Says you. You didn't have to sit behind them all morning. Plus, I have freaking Butch as a counterpart! It sucks! The guy is bound to lose his temper any second and snap the table in half or something." She said, barring her teeth slightly at the boys. Down girl, no need to raise the hackles yet. Blossom sighed.

"Like you did when Mitch talked with that one girl last year? Please Buttercup, give them a chance. He can't be too much worse than you," Blossom said as she cocked an eyebrow at the girl. Bubbles giggled slightly at the memory.

"That was an interesting one to explain to the professor," she said. Buttercup was turning red at this point.

"Sh-shut up. You don't know what you're talking about," Buttercup grumbled as she finally stopped glaring at the boys.

Bubbles spared them another glance and her eyes met with another pair of blue. He quickly looked down at his lunch, a sandwich it looked like, and poked at it. Bubbles smiled. See? They weren't that bad.

After lunch, since it was a Monday, Buttercup and Bubbles went straight to the art room. Blossom said her goodbyes at the door before continuing down the hall to her classroom. Buttercup quickly went inside, wanting to just get it over with. She hated art.

Bubbles heard a small scoffing sound not long after followed by what sounded like a very low growl before turning to see red eyes glaring just past her after her red headed sister.

Bubbles turned around and caught Brick's attention. He turned his eyes, glare still solidly in place, to her. It was a little unnerving. Still, she smiled and waved at him.

"Hi Brick," she said in a happy voice. The boy gave her a weird look before adjusting his hat on his head slightly.

"Sure, hi. Whatever," he mumbled before walking past her. Hmm, he wasn't used to that was he? Well, she'd have to fix that. She turned to look back and saw Butch dragging his feet with Boomer dragging him along slightly.

"So laaame. I don't wanna. Why we gotta do this?" Butch whined. Boomer just tugged him along.

"Brick says we gotta so we gotta. We told Bellum we'd try to right? Going means tryin' so come on Butch. Stop makin' me drag you."

Bubbles smiled at the two. As if sensing her smile both boys looked at her. The corner of Boomer's lip twitched at the whisper of a smile while Butch just gave her a look.

"What you lookin' so happy bout blondie?" He asked. She giggled.

"Buttercup doesn't like art much either. The first time we had it I had to drag her into the room as well."

And now Butch had this weird combination of looks on his face. It said he was happy to have something to taunt Buttercup with but did it have to be the same thing as him? He grumbled but finally walked on his own into the classroom. Buttercup wasn’t going to be too happy she had shared that with him. Oh well.

Boomer looked to the classroom a bit unsure.

"Boomer?" Bubbles asked. He didn't quite flinch but did this odd almost full body twitch at her voice. He looked at her hesitantly. "Everything okay?"

He seemed to think it over before responding.

"Only art I've done was usually on buildings. Gunna be weird using paper and shit." Bubbles giggled at that.

"First, the teachers don't like cussing at school so make sure neither Bloss nor them hear you say that again," Boomer winced and scratched the back of his neck. "Second, it's not hard, promise. They usually just have us color or something on the first day. Ooh! We could color together! Oh, let's go Boomer! This'll be so much fun, promise!" Bubbles said as she grabbed Boomer's hand and dragged him into the class.

She chose not to pay attention to the blush that popped up on his face when she did so. She also ignored the red and light green glares sent her way. It was art class next after all and if they had a problem with her being friendly then they should paint themselves a picture. She knew she always felt better after doing that.

* * *

Ugh. She had so much homework to do. She really should get home and get started on it before Bloss decided to track her down. She could only get away with slacking off for so long after all. 7th grade had so much more homework though. She was going crazy! How Bloss did it, Buttercup would never know.

After school soccer practice had ended only about 30 minutes ago though and Buttercup was still hyped from it. Their first game was on Saturday! Just two days and she'd be able to whoop Citiesville butt! The thought brought a savage smile to her face.

Still, she'd been just aimlessly flying around for long enough she guessed. Probably time to head home. She was about to do just that but stopped when she heard a familiar voice.

Ugh. Just what she needed. Neanderthal. What was he doing in the part of town? The mayor's house was on the other side.

Thinking about it, this wasn't too far from the observatory. She should probably check it out. Make sure he hadn't gone and grabbed some Mojo bots or weapons or something. She chose to ignore the fact that he didn't need them. Butch did lots of things he didn't need to after all.

She floated towards where his voice was coming from slowly so as to not tip him off that she was onto him. She still didn't trust them. So what if the boys hadn't caused any trouble in the past year and a half. They were literally made to destroy! They couldn't just change their ways that easy. She finally reached an opening between the buildings where there was a basketball court. On the court, there were a group of about three or four younger boys surrounding Butch.

Well, she guessed the looks on their faces meant she probably shouldn't start a fight with her counterpart. They actually looked happy to see him. If she was feeling generous, which she never was with Butch, they almost seemed to be looking up to the boy. He had a basketball that he was casually bouncing while talking excitedly to the kids.

"The coach was totally hyped after that. I'm totally gunna have a place and you guys definitely have to come watch! Imma whoop some ass!" Butch said followed by that cackle he called a laugh.

She remember hearing something about him having tried out for the team. Guess the coach was excited. Don't get why. The idiot had no control. He was bound to get kicked out of the first game for using his powers or something. Maybe he'd hurt someone. Maybe she should make sure to be at that first game if she could. Bloss couldn't complain about her wailing on him if he hurt someone first now could she?

Buttercup smirked at the thought but quickly let it fall off her face. Guess there wasn't much point in sticking around. Butch didn't have anything over than the basketball on him and the kids weren't screaming in terror. She had no reason for punching her counterpart in the face and so, literally no reason to stick around. It wouldn't be much longer now until Bloss decided to track her down after all. She wasn’t about to get a lecture about responsibility again. Especially not because of him. Ugh. Even from here she could still feel the slime she swore the snail boy gave off.

She seemed to be the only one that felt that way though. The girls in her history class had been gossiping about the boys all class long. Apparently girls actually thought he was cute or something. Blegh. Gross. She'd had to spend the whole time with nothing to keep her mind off the conversation. She still wasn't talking to Mitch. Seriously, how dare he just sit with her number one enemy? Idiot! Boys were all dumb.

With a huff, Buttercup turned around to fly home but stopped when she heard someone yell. She looked down at the group and saw some high schoolers or something approach Butch and the kids. They had this cocky look on their face that reminded her of Ace.

Bloss still wouldn't tell her why she wasn't allowed to face him anymore. She went into leader girl mode anytime Buttercup asked. Even Bubs hadn't managed to get an answer out of her.

Not the point. Focus! Buttercup thought to herself as she turned back to watch the group.

"Didn't you hear me? Clear out. This here is our court," one of the kids said. Buttercup glared at him. Slimy sounding voice, she thought.

"Free court man. First come first serve. We were here first. We'll clear out when we're done. Shouldn't be much longer," Butch said. His posture had changed drastically. The basketball was trapped under his arm against his hip, other hand in his pocket. His shoulders were loose, ready and his stance was a little bit of cocky mixed with I-don’t-give-a-shit. This could be not good. The other kids looked at one another before breaking out in laughter.

"Well well well boys. Looks like we gots ourselves a hot shot here. Look punk, you clearly don't know the law here but we'll help you out with that. His name’s Jo and you’re looking at him. Now clear out."

The kids had all backed behind Butch and we're obviously frightened by the kids in front of them. Buttercup didn't like that. She didn't like that at all. Without thinking about it she flew down to where they all were. She stopped about 3 or 4 feet above their heads, still slightly behind Butch. They hadn't noticed her yet. She felt that Butch was about to do something stupid so she spoke.

"Actually, I think if anyone here is the law it would be me."

Every single one of them snapped their heads in her direction. Everyone except Butch. He lazily rolled his head around until he was looking at her. She me his look and gave him one back. It was a good thing she had stepped in. He had THAT look in his eyes. Seriously, he needed to learn some self-control.

"Ayy! If ain't the green one! What brings one of you sweet things to our part of town?" Jo said. He was eyeing her in a way that made her really angry. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing she didn't have to deal with Ace and his gang if they might be giving her looks like this.

Butch seemed to notice the look too and Buttercup could hear a low growl coming from the boy. Seriously, self-control she thought.

"Not much," she said as she floated down to stand next to Butch. She threw a kick at his ankles causing him to flinch and give her another look. She ignored him. "Heard you three talking though and thought that maybe I should swing by. You know, see what's up."

Jo rubbed at his mouth, still giving her a look. Buttercup mentally recited a mantra to stay calm but it wasn't getting easier. Sleaze balls like this thug really needed to be brought down a notch or two. He glanced back at his pals before replying.

"Not much up here either. We were just bout to play a round or two. We're a man short though. Maybe you'd like to join in. You can even be on my team."

Butch began growling again and Buttercup saw him shift ever so slightly. She quickly latched onto the collar of his shirt and yanked. Hard. He quickly fell back a step or two to avoid having his shirt ripped and shot a glare in her direction. She ignored him again.

"Nah, see, last I checked these guys were here first and I don't think they were quite finished with the court yet." She looked at them, finally meeting Butch's eyes. He looked like he was starting to catch onto why she was here but boy did he look cautious as hell. Did he really think she'd support these losers? They were slimier than he was! Jo barked out a laugh.

"Nah, see doll, they just told us they were done. We're good," he said taking a step towards Buttercup. She swung around and glared at him causing him to freeze.

"Is that so Butch?"

"You know it ain't. Where were you lurking about? Up by those buildings? Easily heard everything we said didn't you?" Butch said, still looking cautious. Ugh, the idiot had to make this more difficult by being difficult didn't he?

"Look, we always practice here around this time doll. The neighborhood knows this. These boys won't mind clearing out, will you?" Jo said towards the kids behind Butch. The other two with Jo came forward and stood straight. All the kids backed further behind Butch making Buttercup frown. That was never a good sign. Who did these sleaze balls think they were scaring kids like this? And right in front of her too. She couldn't let that just go.

"We'll play you for it," she said without thinking. Then mentally screamed at what she just said. Too late to go back though. With a slight wince she gestured at Butch. "Him and I, no powers, against all three of you. First to five baskets wins."

Butch finally seemed to get it and gave the boys in front of them one of his manic smiles. Buttercup tipped her head back slightly, making it obvious she was looking down her nose at them. The three boys exchanged looks, slightly off kilter at the suggestion. They looked back at Buttercup.

"Uh-uh. There's no way to tell that you'd play fair. Powerpuff girl or not! You're the green one! You only play to win, even we know that."

Buttercup glared at them. What the hell did that mean?! She kept her word! Always! It was part of what made her a green. Greens always keep their promises. That was what they were known for.

Among friends at least. She guessed these guys only ever saw her beat the shit out of things and lose her temper. Maybe she should take Bubs up on that offer to try out that new meditative yoga studio. Clearly she was being too destructive lately.

"Powerpuffs never break their word dipshit, especially this one. Stubborn as a fucking mule. She says she'll do it, she will. As for me, well, she's something of a warden for me and my bros, breaking her word would get my ass thrown in jail. So no powers, two v three boys. What d'ya say?" Butch said swaggering over until he was in Jo's face.

"Why would you-" Jo said, clearly confused for a moment until he finally really looked at Butch. "Shit. A Rowdy? Fuck man. Ain't no way I'll go against one of you in anything. I know what happened last time someone did that around here. C'mon, let's split. We can go to the court over in the next neighborhood." He backed away from Butch then turned and quickly began walking away. Buttercup was a bit peeved that she wouldn't get to blow some steam but she guessed that was one way to do it. She was also pissed they seemed more scared of Butch than her.

"Hey! If I hear about you bullying kids into giving up the court from you I promise a Rowdy will be the last of you concerns. Surely you've heard of what Bubbles did to the last bullies she was tipped off about? Guess who gave her the idea and think about that next time you think about bullying someone." Buttercup called after them. They looked back at her and just to make sure they got her point she let an eye beam build in her eyes, knowing they'd start glowing a bright green. She let a little bit of energy build around her as well just to drive the point home. They did a double look before double timing it away.

She still felt unsatisfied. Butch scared them away first. Maybe the yoga would be a bad idea. Clearly she hadn't been destructive enough if Butch was still more of a threat than her. Speaking of, he was shaking oddly now and Buttercup couldn't help but edge away slightly giving him an odd look. A second later though, he broke out in a very loud barking like laugh. For once, it didn't even sound manic. He spun around to face Buttercup.

"That was awesome! Did you seem them run? And we didn't do shit even! Actually, that bit kinda sucked. Ignore that bit."

"What'd he mean about last time?" Buttercup quickly redirected. She wasn't used to a non-manic crazy Butch. She didn't have the time to try and learn how to deal with him. Butch stopped and cocked his head in thought.

"Dunno. Could be that one time with Boom maybe? When we were, what, 6 or 7? Anyways, some kids broke some toy or something of Boom's once and he went ape shit. Took both Brick and me together to stop him. Think we managed to get away that time before you three showed up. Must have been 7 then? By that time we stopped really caring too much about destroying you three."

Buttercup decided that he was being honest enough. She supposed. She remembered a time when they'd really gone at it when they were 8 so she wasn't so sure about his last comment. Still, if Boomer had a hardcore mode like Bubs then what he’d said wasn't impossible.

"Whatever."

She was about to take off for home when Butch spoke up again.

"One v one?" He asked her. He cocked an eyebrow at her and she couldn't help but glare at him. He smiled that familiar crazy smile in response. "C'mon. Let's give these kiddos a match they'll be talking about for year." He gestured at the kids. They looked at her, still a bit uneasy but clearly excited at the thought of a match. Buttercup scoffed at her counterpart.

"I've got homework so hard pass." Butch frowned at that. Basketball beat out homework any day of the week. She knew that he knew that she was really just saying no to him. She started floating up but turned to the kids. "Those three cause you trouble again, you call me. Just yell as loud as you can. I'll hear." And with that she shot off and away from the group.

Maybe if she was lucky Bloss's lecture wouldn’t be that long.

* * *

It was a really nice day out. Perfect day for lazing about and just flying where the winds took her. Sadly, Blossom wasn't able to just let the winds take her wherever they pleased today. She had something she needed to take care of. It was her turn to check in on the boys this month and this was the only day she had free time this week.

She supposed she could have done another week, she did after all have the whole month, but she'd felt off all week and just really wanted to get it over with. It didn't help that Brick had been different too. It wasn't just him either, or at least it didn't feel like it. It was still only the first month of the school year but clearly 9th grade was not going to be anything like 8th.

It had started small. Kelly had made a comment in math class to Gloria about the hair. For once, she said, it looked brushed and it had such a nice shine to it to. Blossom remembered being confused and looked at them only to be more confused when she saw who they were talking about. Brick had been assigned a seat to the front of the classroom and apparently Kelly and Gloria weren't the only two noticing his hair. She supposed it did look a bit more under control than normal but the ever present hat was still there so it was hard to tell. From what she could see, it was still poking out in all sorts of directions from the loose bun he'd had it in that day. The summer heat had lingered and he knew he tended to overheat easy.

It didn't stop there. Next thing she knew, Debbie, at lunch time, was near drooling over the boy. A fact that did not go unnoticed by Princess who of coarse threw a hissy fit at her current best friend. Which then escalated until Princess was once again on the market for a new bestie. Brick had noticed the ruckus, rolled his eyes, and left as per normal when Princess was screaming. It didn't seem to take long before even be wasn't acting normal though!

Gloria and Kelly had, after that day, made very obvious efforts to get Brick's attention. As was her counterpart's normal, he thoroughly ignored them. Until he didn't! She nearly tripped over her own feet when she saw Brick talking to both of them on the way to her locker just a week ago. Robin had given her a weird look but she'd brushed it off, only to nearly choke on her own shock as she saw Brick lean into whisper in Gloria's ear. The world was ending. Her usual stoic but temper prone counterpart, for all intents and purposes from what she could not only see but also unfortunately hear, was flirting! At that point, she'd told Robin that she actually didn't really need anything from her locker and had promptly turned on her heels and walked away.

She still couldn't quite believe what she'd seen and then continued to see! It seemed that girls all of a sudden couldn't get enough of being around Brick. And he was eating it up!

Well, alright. That was a slight exaggeration, but only slight! There was clearly flirting going on with all involved parties. She wasn't imagining it either. Earlier in the week she had purposely asked Bubbles to walk with her to her locker, knowing that if the trend continued then Brick would once again be flirting. Two seconds after they'd gotten out of Brick's earshot Bubbles had gone crazy! She needed to know the who's, the what's, and the when's. Blossom hadn't indulged her as she knew her sister tended to be a bit of a gossip but it reassured her a little. She wasn't the only one seeing it!

She also wasn't sure how to handle it. She was used to Brick mostly ignoring girls other than her. Even with her though, he tended to just insult and argue with her. He'd never seemed nice. He was definitely being nice to all these other girls all of a sudden. Butch wasn't just being green eyed anymore but green faced from the attention his brother seemed to be getting with no effort on his part. She'd overheard him complaining to Boomer about how that was supposed to be him. Boomer had been too busy staring after Bubbles again to really pay him much notice.

Maybe she should talk to him. Both hims? One seemed so forlorn lately and the other was really starting to wear on Buttercup's already short patience.

Well, maybe today would help clear things up. In the past year or so, the girls had stopped ringing the door bell and tended to just do a sweep of the mayor's house, with her permission of course. It was around dinner time and Blossom knew that the mayor had taken the afternoon off to spend some time with the boys so she planned to just, awkwardly peek in?

God that sounded so creepy. She hated lurking like that but it always got so awkward when she rang the doorbell. Mayor Bellum would always invite her in while Brick would stare at her like she had two heads, Butch would be not so subtly checking her out, and Boomer would keep looking behind her as if he expected someone else to just magically appear. It would only get worse as she would be invited to stay for dinner and the mayor really wasn't one to take no for an answer. She shuddered at the memory of those early, very awkward days.

She slowed as she approached the large house. She flew down slowly to the back of the house, approaching the upper corner of the large glass window that looked into the house's kitchen and dining area. Floating near the top of it, Blossom slowly peeked into the house.

All four were in the kitchen, cooking something. She quickly corrected herself when she saw the large mixing bowl with what looked like cookie batter in it. Mayor Bellum was wearing some denim jeans and a t-shirt with an apron on, looking more casual than Blossom could ever remember seeing her. She was laughing as Butch, with flour covering his head, chased Boomer around the kitchen. She had a few flour spots herself and Blossom couldn't help but smile at the sight. The boys had become very close with the mayor over the years, becoming very protective of her. No villain dared outright go after her because of it. It irked Blossom a bit that the boys were more of a threat than they were but she begrudgingly understood. The boys didn't have their level of restraint. She stayed there for a few minutes longer before deciding it was time to take off for home.

She was about to do that but stopped short when she realized something. She saw Butch, Boomer, and the mayor. Where did-

"I woulda thought lurking like this to be above a puff."

Blossom jumped a near foot further into the air, spinning, hands on her chest, to see her counterpart standing with his arms crossed not far behind where she had been.

"Brick! Oh my gosh. Please don't do that!" She said as she tried to calm her racing heart. He cocked an eyebrow at her, that annoying smirk on his face. It always tended to show up when he was annoying her in some way or another.

"Maybe you shouldn't be peeking then. Aren't there laws or some shit against that?"

She glared at him. Mayor Bellum had done a good job for the most part getting the boys to stop swearing. Generally all three, maybe not Butch so much, didn't cuss very much. They all tended to break that trend around her, Brick even more so. She was sure he did it just to annoy her.

"For your information, I was not peeking or lurking. It's my turn this month for the check-in. I thought I'd just swing by and make things easier for all parties involved that way."

"You mean peek in, not swing by. See, swinging by kind of implies letting someone know or going by the front of the house."

"Yes well, you know now so there." It was weak and she knew it. His smirk just grew at the comment. "Anyways, I've checked in. All good. So, just going to leave now."

"Sure you've peeked enough? Aren't worried that we're secretly doing something evil and horrendous that you need to take us in for?"

She scowled at him.

"I was not peeking. Next time I'll just ring the doorbell then if it really bothers you that much. Also, I know you're not doing anything horrendous or evil. You aren't breaking any laws." He just snorted at that, only causing Blossom to scowl more.

"The only thing being broken here is a couple of eggs. Maybe a few egg heads too if they aren't careful."

"Well, just keep it that way. Especially since you've been Mr. Popular lately." She whispered the last part, unintentionally but softly enough that she thought he wouldn't hear. Apparently she'd not had enough practice whispering below x-hearing level. He looked confused.

"What? Did you just say Mr. Popular?"

Blossom mentally panicked. Why would she say that?! She continued to glare at him and made sure not to tense up or move in any way that would give her away.

"I don't know what you’re talking about."

He gave her a look at that.

"Seriously Pinky? X-hearing. Heard of it? Still though, gunna have to clear something up for me here. Why do you care?"

"I don't." He scoffed at that.

"Then why bring it up?" He brought a hand to his mouth and rubbed at it in thought. She was screwed! She gave away too much! This was a disaster! She didn't even know why she cared!

She didn't care. She shouldn't. But he was right. Then why bring it up? She continued to glare at him. Much more of this and she might as well just eye beam him at that point.

"Pinky, are you jealous?" Brick asked with his 'I win' smile.

"No." And without giving him a chance to say anything else Blossom took off at full speed for home. She refused to even glance back.

Oh! This was awful! She wasn't jealous. Jealousy implies that she liked him. She can't like him. She isn't Bubbles! No. She was just off. It was weird seeing him talking to other girls. Smiling at them, even laughing at their jokes. No. She refused. She couldn't be jealous. Right? Right?!

Well...crackers and fish sticks.

* * *

Well. That was interesting. Brick wasn't 100% sure what to make of it but it was interesting. There was enough venom in that simple 'no' that even he had nearly flinched. She hadn't been that harsh with him in a long time. It was enough to tell him the chances of her being jealous were pretty slim but that she was still bothered by all the flirting that he'd been doing lately. Which, of course, meant he now had to keep it up if only to bug her.

He took his hat off and scratched at his head before placing the cap back where it belonged. Still, she hadn't needed to be that harsh with it. She should have known he just said it to get a rise out of her like he usually did. She didn't need to be that angry about it.

"Bro! If you don't get in here there ain't going to be any cookies left for ya!" Butch yelled from inside the house. Brick heard Bellum gentle scolding him for the slang. Butch was the worst at slipping back into it when he was in a good mood like today.

"You eat my cookies you'll also have to eat my fist. Those are mine Butch!" Well, at least he could take his annoyance with Pinky out on Butch if he was stupid enough to touch his cookies.

"I never said I was the one who was gunna eat them!" He yelled back followed by the quiet snickering of Boomer. Brick scowled.

"Hell no Boom! You leave my cookies alone!"

He'd worried about Pinkie later.


	2. Pink-Eyed Tutor

Man, what was he even doing here? He didn't know where anything was in this place. Hell, this might even be the first time he's actually stepped foot in the library! But like hell was he going to go asking Brick for help like he normally did. He was still mad at him for flirting with Haley even after he'd told his brother that he was interested in her!

Butch sighed and poked at the bookcase in front of him. Most of the time he was able to float by in his classes, though history he always ended up acing. This time though, math was seriously kicking his ass and his teacher had told him that unless he seriously turned it around he'd be repeating the class. Repeating. That would be a fucking nightmare. He groaned as he scanned the books in front of him. It was pretty obvious this was not the math section. Shit. He leaned his forehead against the bookcase, hands going to his hair and pulling at it slightly. He hated this.

"Butch?"

Butch jumped and spun, his heart feeling like it was dropping to his feet. Of course, because that was really just his luck, he goes to avoid one red only to end up face to face with another. He'd rather take Brick than Bossy! She was probably just going to lecture him on library rules or something!

"Yo, Bossy. What're you doing here?" He asked, stuffing his hands in his pocket. Maybe she wouldn't notice the slight twitchy like shake they were doing. Damn his body for never really getting over it. The professor's treatment helped but he still started twitching when he was excited. Or nervous. Blossom raised an eyebrow at him. He noticed she had an armful of books.

"I help out here on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's a good way to kill time while I wait for Bubbles and Buttercup to get out of practice. Though, I think the better question is, what are you doing here?"

Butch nervously scuffed his foot against the ground. "Oh, you know. Just checking things out. Trying to find inspiration for that next big prank."

"In the teen romance section?"

Butch was mentally screaming at himself at this point. The fuck was he doing in the romance section! SOS. Please! Someone! He kept the very strained smile on his face.

"Sure?"

Blossom sighed before walking over to the bookcase behind him and started to put books away.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with math would it?"

Butch felt himself flinch. How the hell did she guess that? She looked at him briefly before continuing to put books away.

"The botany class was inside today so I was next door to the math class I had next today. I don't think you noticed but you walked right past me after talking with Mr. Andrews. Why not go to Brick like you usually do?"

Butch didn't stop himself from actually groaning this time. Of course she would have been right there, that was just his luck wasn't it? There was also no way he was going to go to Brick this time. Why did she care even anyway?

"Doesn't matter. Coming here was dumb. Peace Bossy," Butch said as he turned to walk away. He stopped short as Blossom reached out and yanked him back around. He flinched at the intense look she gave him. She wasn't quiet glaring at him but more looking closely. Intensely. Didn't matter which red you were standing in front of, all of them had a way of making you feel like you were small when they focused solely on you. With Blossom though, it wasn't so much a feeling of being small but being bare. It felt like she could see everything. She sighed at whatever she did see.

"Sit."

She pointed to the table but Butch hesitated. Then she gave him the look. The 'I am a red and you will obey' look and Butch hesitantly went to sit.

"Good. Now stay," she said as she walked off, her long red hair swishing behind her. While up in her normal ponytail Butch couldn't help but notice she wasn't wearing her normal red ribbon.

Also, who did she think she was?! That was rhetorical. He wasn't a dog (mostly. Brick held the largest portion of the puppy tail ingredient after all). She couldn't just order him around like one! He sat stunned for a few minutes before deciding to leave. Just as he was about to get up to do so, Blossom returned with a couple of books.

"What was the last test on? Do you know what you've been having the hardest time with?" She asked as she sat down across from Butch.

"Ummm...what?"

Blossom rolled her eyes at him. "Luckily it's only Tuesday so there aren't many books to be put away yet. I wasn't able to find Ms. Simone to tell her but I doubt she'll mind. She has other aids that can put the books away too. Now, what have you been having trouble with?"

Butch watched her for a few seconds before reaching into his bag and pulling out his notebook.

"Well, pretty much everything?"

Blossom sighed but wasn't very surprised and held out her hand.

“Your last test?”

He pulled it out of her bag and very hesitantly handed it to her. She took one look and winced.

“Well, the good thing about failure is it gives us a chance to learn what we did wrong the first time and not do it again. Let’s get started.”

They spent the next hour or so with Blossom, very patiently, explaining just about everything his teacher has been teaching that semester so far.

"That's it. Like, it's that simple? No trick?"

Blossom laughed at him. "No trick. Math isn't really all that hard once you take the time to understand each piece. Kind of like a puzzle." Butch scoffed at that.

"Yeah, I don't think so. Still, you do a much better job at teaching it than bro does."

Blossom smiled at that. "I imagine that he spends half the time yelling at you doesn't he?"

"You have no idea," Butch said before going quiet, his face taking a slightly far off look to it as he thought about his older brother.

"Want to talk about it?" Blossom asked startling Butch slightly. He quickly turned away.

"Nothin' to talk ‘bout," he mumbled. She sighed.

"It's obviously something. Brick might be annoying and a real jerk sometimes but usually you would still go ask for his help. Half the time you wouldn't even have to ask. Brick would just show up and drag you away ranting about he can't have you failing because it would make him look bad. So, want to talk about it?"

Butch hesitated. He hadn't realized how much the puff leader apparently paid attention to them because she was right. Normally that is what would have happened. This time though, Butch wasn't talking to Brick and Brick wasn't making much of an effort himself.

"It's dumb. Not really worth going into," Butch said as he rolled his pencil around the table. He could feel Blossom giving him that look again.

"I won't tell anyone," she said after a moment. Butch just shrugged causing her to sigh. "Look, I know that you don't like to complain about him because he's your leader and to complain about him would make him, in your eyes, seem like less than perfect to others but it's healthy to complain every now and then. You don't think Bubbles and Buttercup don't go off and complain to Robin every time I do something they don't like?"

Butch looked up at that. He honestly hadn't really thought about it. Although the puffs seemed really open with each other it had been a long time since anyone had openly seen them disagree about something. Ever since the day the news had torn Blossom apart because Buttercup had openly disregarded an order of hers, causing a lot of damage to the city, the puffs had given off the perfect picture of sisterly togetherness. They argued but never about anything serious and neither Buttercup nor Bubbles had been seen going against her orders since. He just thought that the puffs had agreed to follow Blossom and that was it.

"I didn't know that," he said. She smiled at him gently.

"There's plenty of times where I go and mess something up and after that one time, the girls made an effort to be more careful but they still need to vent every now and then. Usually to someone not related to us. You ruffs though, while you fight like dogs sometimes, you never go against Brick ever. I know he does things that really get under your skin but I never see you actual speak up to him about it. As close as you are to Mitch and Mike, I can't exactly see you complaining to them so I'm guessing you just bottle it up. I just want you to know you can talk to me."

Butch regarded her for a second. "I would have thought if you saw us being weak you'd just go laugh behind our backs about it."

Blossom gave a disbelieving laugh at that. "When did I ever give that impression? When did any of us for that matter?"

"Pretty clear what BC thinks of me."

"Well that's because the only time you have nice nicknames for her is when you’re not talking to her. She's also a lot more sensitive than people give her credit for."

Butch gave her a disbelieving look at that. She rolled her eyes in response.

"You really think she'd judge you? How about this, I convince you you’re wrong about her, you tell me what the problem is."

Butch thought it over. "Deal." If nothing else, it would be interesting.

"Well, to start with, did you know she has a creative side too? I dance and have my flower arranging. Bubbles has the voice of an angel and the soul of an artist. Seriously, if you think her paintings are good, you really should see her sculptures. They're extremely realistic and beautiful. But what about Buttercup?"

"She's the sporty one."

"But Bubbles and I do sports. We might not be as into them as her but we still do them. You don't think it's weird that she isn't in some kind of creative club?"

Butch thought it over and shrugged. "Guess I never noticed."

"Hmm, that's because she openly doesn't want anyone to notice. If you really look though you'll see it. She loves to write."

Butch snorted at that and Blossom gave him a disapproving look.

"Seriously. She's really good too. Any chance she gets she's writing something. If it ever calms down enough here in Townsville that she doesn't have to stay here she's said that she'd love to be a journalist. Go out and see the world. Write articles and stories about how things really are. Try and bring awareness to issues that really need attention and things that can be done to help. She'd be great at it too."

Butch tried to see if she was lying but she looked dead serious. Huh. Who'd have thought? His counterpart liked stories. He guessed he wasn't too surprised. The reason he always aced history was because he loved reading about the real events and things that happened in the world. The stories people had to tell about the way things really were had always interested him. The wars were pretty cool to read about too.

"I didn't realize."

"Next to nobody does. She secretly sends articles into the school paper sometimes. Next time you pick one up take a look for anything by 'Damage Control'. That's the name she submits them under. They're really good and bring to light a lot of issues in the school. Bullying is at an all-time low and a lot of people have said it's because of her articles. Not that anyone knows it's her of course." Blossom said with a shrug.

"Won't she get mad at you for telling me?" Butch asked. Blossom just shrugged again.

"She might not yell it to the world but she doesn't really hide it either. She'll even tell you it all herself if you ask. She just doesn’t like to advertise it. It would hurt her street cred or something. So, what's going on?"

Butch took a second to think if he really wanted to tell her. She'd done what she said she would though. While Buttercup would probably continue to hate his guts for a good long while, if she was writing articles about bullying and other things she probably wasn't a completely heartless bitch. Sometimes at least.

"Like I said it's dumb," he went back to rolling his pencil around. Blossom stayed silent but he could tell she was watching him. Waiting for him to continue. "Okay, so there's this girl. Haley right? She's in my English class and she's really pretty cool. A little while ago I told Brick about her and said I was gunna make a move. Not two days later I see him, in the hallway with her. She's all close like and he has that look on his face, like he's super happy she's talking to him without actually looking happy about it. He always has that look on his face when girls approach him. It's part of how he turns on the charm and I just couldn't believe it you know? Even if she came onto him, to go and flirt with a girl I was actually kinda into? Dick move."

Blossom hummed in thought. "Yes he has been getting a lot of attention hasn't he."

"Yes! It's annoying as fuck-"

"Language."

"-And he doesn't even do anything to get it! It's like all these girls all of a sudden have to just drop everything to flock to him. I don't get it! Argh!" Butch groaned throwing his head back and glaring at the ceiling. He really felt like breaking something now but seeing as how Blossom had just done him a solid with math he figured he should hold off. If only so she wouldn't also yell at him.

"I'm well aware of how much attention he's getting believe me. Unfortunately, I can't seem to stop from seeing it," Blossom said, mumbling the last part somewhat angrily. Butch looked at her, raising and eyebrow in question. She cleared her throat and Butch almost could have sworn he saw a little bit of pink dusting her cheeks. "Look, are you sure you saw what you think you saw?"

"Pretty sure I know what flirting looks like Bossy."

Blossom rolled her eyes. "And he was flirting? Other than the smile, did you see any other signs of him flirting? Did he lean in? Tuck her hair behind her ear? Whisper to her? Hell, maybe even throw an arm around her waist or touch her in any other way?"

Butch felt his eyebrows come together in thought. Thinking back, all he'd seen was the smile. Usually Brick would have put a bit more effort if he'd been flirting. He would have done at least one of those things Blossom had listed, if not more. Butch had watched his brother for a while too, fuming in the distance, and he hadn't done anything else. Also, why the hell did Blossom know so much about how his brother flirted?

"No. Bossy, you have something you feel like maybe sharing with the class here?"

She waved him off.

"Brick tends to find annoyingly obvious places along my path to flirt. Believe me, I've seen enough of it this year alone. Don't even get me started on last year either. That's not the point though! While Brick might be a lot of things, he wouldn't actually ever go behind someone's back like that. If he respects you, which we all know he does, he would never flirt with someone you had a genuine interest in. On the other hand, if you saw him talking to Haley and jumped to you own conclusions, I could easily see him rolling his eyes and saying that it's your own fault for assuming. He'd then probably spend the next few weeks silently laughing at how wrong you are before finally deciding to put you out of your misery. That's something I could easily see him do, if only to prove a point and annoy you at the same time."

She was right. Brick would totally do that. He always liked letting people ride out their mistakes while he secretly laughed his ass off at them.

"Well shit."

"Language."

Butch groaned into his hands. "That-," he sighed. "Guess I'm gunna have to talk to him."

"I think that would be a good idea. Either way though, just an hour of tutoring isn't going to have you passing math anytime soon. Like I said, I'm here Tuesdays and Thursdays until Bubbles and Buttercup finish up. Outside of that? Well, you have my number. I'm always willing to lend a hand."

"Or an ear?" Butch asked hesitantly. Blossom smiled softly at him.

"Or an ear."

"Thanks Blossom. Also, since when did you pay so much attention to us?"

"Since the beginning obviously. Just because I trust you ruffs doesn't mean that I could leave you to your own devices. Not when there was still a chance of you causing trouble and I'd agreed to watch you. While Buttercup might be over aware and Bubbles under, I've always tried to respect your space while also watch for trouble. Anytime you boys have been in the same room or area as me I've made sure to pay attention, at least loosely."

"Uh-huh. So how come we're always able to make you jump?" Butch said with a smirk. Blossom rolled her eyes.

"With the exception of Brick, who annoyingly has always somehow managed to get the jump on me, I only just recently started paying less attention which allowed you and Boomer to start being able to make me jump. Care to guess why?"

Butch thought about it but nothing came to mind. "You trust us?"

"I've always trusted you, to a degree at least after we all signed. This year roughly marked the five year mark since we signed the contract. I'm no longer obligated to watch you closely anymore. Just the odd check in here and there."

"Yo! Butch! You done moping? Getting to that time where you usually cave and crawl at bro's feet," Boomer trailed off as he turned the corner of the bookcase and saw Blossom sitting at his table, math notes scattered across it. "Dude no fair! If I knew Blossom was gunna tutor you I totally woulda tagged along. Biology is seriously messing me up this semester."

"Uh-uh. Find your own puff tutor. I was here first!" Butch yelled as Boomer sat down and pulled out a notebook.

"Keep it down Butch. We are still in the library," Blossom scolded.

"Okay, so this thing here? I drew what was on the board, labels and all but I don't get it!"

* * *

"Pinky."

Blossom jumped and spun to see Brick standing behind her, a huge smirk on his face.

"Would you ruffs stop that?! Oh my gosh, you're going to give me a heart attack one of these days Brick, I swear."

"Nah, I think you'll be fine," he said as he leaned a shoulder against the locker next to her. Blossom rolled her eyes and went back to grabbing what she needed for her next class.

"When I end up in the hospital because of you I reserve the right to say I told you so. What did you want?"

Brick shrugged and looked off down the hall. "Butch came and talked to me last night. He wanted to clear some things up. I offered to help him with his math but he said you had it covered. Figured I owed you a thank you."

Blossom stared at him, waiting for the punch line. He continued to look down the hall and she could see the tips of his ears were slightly pink. She sighed and decided that for the sake of a civil conversation, not to comment on it.

"He was in the romance section looking rather annoyed. I figured it would be best to step in and help before he made a mess that I'd have to make him clean up."

"Right. It had nothing to do with the fact that you overheard just about everything I said to Haley that day."

"Hmm, which one was Haley again? Was that before second or third period?"

"Ha ha. You know exactly who Haley is. You know who everyone is," Brick said rolling his eyes. He reached past Blossom and grabbed the red ribbon she had folded on the shelf in her locker, twirling it around his fingers. His eyes quickly went to the small black one she currently had in her hair. It was getting close to Halloween and Blossom tended to let Bubbles have a little fun with her hair this time of year because of that. It usually meant she ended up wearing several different ribbons throughout the week. He would never admit it, but it bugged him. More than it should. Blossom glared at him, missing his glance at her current ribbon.

"Must you?"

"Yes."

"Ugh. Whatever. I just felt it wasn't fair to Butch for you to continue to leave him in the dark after you had said all those nice things about him to Haley."

Brick scoffed at that and turned to look down the hall again. Blossom took this chance to snatch her ribbon back. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Blossom rolled her eyes and put her ribbon back. "Right. Sure you don't. You were practically singing his praises Brick. That's why you were smiling so much at the girl."

"Now see here Pinky, I wasn’t praising anyone."

"So 'He's the most loyal person you'll ever meet. If you get lucky enough for Butch to truly care about you then he'll be the kind of person to fly to hell and back for you. Kinda like a puppy dog.'"

"Oh my gosh Pinky. You said hell. Maybe we need to get you to the school nurse," Brick said with a smirk. Blossom glared at him causing him to look away again. "And obviously I was being sarcastic. Everyone knows Boomer's the real puppy dog here."

"Says the representative of it himself. You and I both know you weren't being sarcastic Brick."

Blossom closed her locker and started off to her next class. Brick quickly moved to follow her. They did have their next class together after all.

"Can't you just take it and not give me grief?"

"I did. You're welcome. I'm just making sure you're aware that I know exactly what you're thanking me for."

Brick grumbled under his breath at that. Of course Blossom wouldn't pass the opportunity up. Any chance she got to prove she knew more than he wanted her to she had to throw back in his face. "Whatever. Just know both Boom and Butch were going lala over your tutoring. They're your problem now."

"Oh I'm sure I'll find some way or other to send them back to you. Don't worry. Soon you'll be able to yell at them all you like again."

"I still hate you sometimes. I really do."

Blossom couldn't help the huge smile she had on her face at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gunna lie, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter.


	3. The Talk

Blossom wasn't quite sure what they needed to speak at the courthouse about but she wasn’t about to argue with the fairest judge in Townsville. He had overseen a number of cases for the villains the girls had caught over the years and always gave the appropriate sentences. At least, that was what Blossom thought. Buttercup tended to think he was too soft whereas Bubbles often thought he was too harsh. When the girls arrived Judge Harrows was sitting at his desk rubbing circles on his temples as another man all but barked at him. Mr. Leeman, a lawyer the girls had also encountered before, was also there. All three men turned once they heard the door open, the judge giving a tired smile when he saw who it was.

"Girls. Just on time. Mr. Jones here was just about to leave. Please come in and take a seat," he gestured to the chairs in front of him.

Mr. Jones looked back at the judge, obviously still frustrated but, seeing the glare Buttercup was giving him, huffed and stomped his way out of the office. The judge then thanked Mr. Leeman for his time as well before he also left. All three girls sat quietly.

"Now, I called you three here to speak with you about something. I'd like your help on a certain matter. Three certain matters to be exact." The judge folded his hands in front of him as he spoke.

Bubbles, to Blossom's right, cocked her head slightly, her gentle smile ever present on her face. Buttercup, on Blossom's other side, continued to scowl. She'd had to miss a soccer game to be here and still wasn't very happy about it. Both girls exchanged quick, confused looks. Blossom simply sighed through her nose.

"This is because Mojo was thrown in Lockdown isn't it?" Blossom said. The judge nodded while the other two girls continued to remain confused.

"What's banana breath gotta do with anything? He's in Lockdown. Even he won't be finding a way out anytime soon, if ever." Buttercup huffed. Blossom sighed again as Bubbles sent her what she thought would be a reassuring smile. Buttercup simply scowled harder.

"Technically speaking, this matter has nothing really to do with Mojo. It's what, or who, is being left behind outside of Lockdown that this talk concerns."

"The Rowdyruff Boys?" At this, Buttercup growled as Bubbles smile shrunk slightly. Blossom had clearly been expecting something like this though. The judge nodded.

"Correct. As you know, legally speaking, Mojo has been their legal guardian since he is their creator. Now with Mojo locked up in Lockdown, the boys have been left with no legal guardian. Today I met with the mayor and two lawyers, each representing a side, as we decided what to do." Buttercup huffed at the judge's words.

"Thrown 'em in there, riiight next to Mojo. That's what you're doing right? Need us to bring 'em in?" Buttercup said, now smiling. Unlike Bubbles, her smile spoke to darker things. She was beginning to be okay with having missed the soccer match. This would be much more fun, and rewarding. Both Blossom and the judge sighed.

"Not quite." Judge Harrows said, causing two of the girls to frown, confused.

"I'm guessing it was decided to give them a chance? You want us to watch them then." Blossom said. Buttercup whipped around to face her sister, shock clear on her face.

"Uh-uh. Nooo way. Not in a million freaking years! Those three deserve a cell right next to Mojo!" She turned to face the judge who simply looked tired again. "Please Judge Harrows, please tell me that's why we're here and not cause you want us to babysit them."

The judge sighed before pulling out the draft he had started while Mr. Jones had been yelling at him.

"I decided to give them a chance. They will become the property of the government and Mayor Bellum has been kind enough to offer to raise the boys of the government’s behalf." He held a hand up to stop Buttercup's retort. "This does not mean we're giving them a free pass."

He paused to look at all three girls. Bubbles was frowning, deep in thought. Blossom was waiting, looking quiet serene as she sat there. This news clearly wasn't a surprise to her. Buttercup was near red faced in anger. Judge Harrows felt the headache return and began massaging his temple.

"I want you three to check in on them, make sure that they stick to the laws. If they show any sign of hurting anyone you stop them. If that happens, or anything else illegal occurs, then they will have a proper trial just like anyone else would. I'm drafting a document that all parties involved will sign stating the terms of everything. Would you three be willing to agree to this?"

Buttercup opened her mouth, clearly about to say no, only to be cut off by Blossom. "We would be open to the idea but as the leader, I can't agree to anything beyond that until the document has been completed."

Buttercup shot her a look of betrayal that she would even think of giving the boys a chance. Bubbles looked uneasy herself as well. The judge nodded.

"That's more than enough. I'm prioritizing this document and should have something ready to be signed in about a week. Until then girls."

Blossom thanked Judge Harrows as she and the other girls left the office. As soon as they left Buttercup opened her mouth only to, again, be cut off.

"We can talk about it outside," Blossom said giving her a stern look. Buttercup crossed her arms and quickly began stomping her way out of the building, setting small tremors off as she did so. Blossom and Bubbles both sighed before following after her.

"Is this really a good idea Bloss? Watching the boys, letting them stay free?" Bubbles asked. Blossom gave her a sad look.

"I thought, out of everyone, you would have understood. We aren't letting them stay free, Bubs. We're giving them a chance."

Bubbles shrunk in on herself slightly at this, feeling a tad bit ashamed that she hadn't thought of it that way. Once they got outside the building all three took off into the sky and Buttercup began her rant. Blossom nodded or shook her head where appropriate but said nothing as Buttercup raged at her. Bubbles ignored them, lost in her own world of thought. About halfway home though, Blossom decided she'd had enough.

"Stop!" She said as she did just that in mid-air. Buttercup and Bubbles flew slightly past her before doing the same. "Just stop it. What's done is done Buttercup! That's that!"

"But Bloss, it's them! They were literally made to destroy things. Mainly us! If we let them go free-"

"But we're not! This isn't like with Mojo or Him or any other villain! Like you said, they were made to destroy. They haven't been given the chance to show if they're capable of doing anything else. And before you say anything, remember we were made to be the perfect little girls and yet what was the first thing we did? We destroyed! Simply because we didn't know better."

Buttercup crossed her arms with a huff but stayed quiet otherwise. Bubbles had begun tugging at her ponytails nervously looking between the two. Neither could argue with Blossom's point though. They had gotten their chance. The boys, seeing as they were raised by the two top villains of Townsville, hadn't. Blossom massaged her temples, trying to fight off the oncoming headache that she knew was coming.

"I know you've both seen it. I have. They aren't all bad." Blossom crossed her arms and looked off into the distance. "Mayor Bellum asked what my thoughts about this were right after we took down Mojo. I told her the truth."

Looking back at her sisters she saw one look of betrayal and another of confusion.

"You said to give them a chance?! Why the hell'd you do that for?!" Buttercup screamed.

"I don't really get it either Bloss," Bubbles added softly. Blossom groaned slightly.

"You do though. You were the one who pointed it out first, years ago." At the blank look, Blossom resisted another sigh. "They've never killed anyone."

Both Buttercup and Bubbles looked away from Blossom at this. It was true. While the boys were a pain and destructive for sure, they'd never killed someone. Not even on accident. Mojo and Him couldn't claim the same.

"That's not all either. I've seen them do good." Blossom bit her lip at this, torn between telling the girls and not. With the way they were looking at her though, she knew she had no choice. "Do you remember that monster about a year or so ago that looked kind of like a giant pink alligator?" The other two winced slightly.

"You mean the fight that put us all in the hospital for a week afterwards?" Buttercup asked. Blossom nodded before continuing.

"There was a moment when I was fighting it alone. He'd just knocked you two away and was making his way further into town. I did everything I could to slow him down but, well, it wasn't easy. There was a moment...it was the worst moment of the fight. He noticed an old lady running away that I hadn't spotted yet. He threw a bus at her. By the time I noticed I knew there would be no way I could make it there in time. Thankfully, I didn't have to. All I saw was a blue streak and then the lady was gone. I knew it hadn't been you Bubs, you were still south of us and the streak had been too dark to be yours anyways. It wasn't the first time something like that had happened either. Haven't you both seen them, doing something good? Just that little flash that says enough?"

They both stated at her sister then thought back over the years. It wasn't the first time. Both girls, thinking back, could remember seeing things that they'd always just brushed off afterwards. A flash of green stopping a falling rock or a streak of red followed by a flying rock at whatever enemy they'd been facing. There were other times too, outside of fights, where all three girls could remember the boys being maybe not good but at least, not bad.

"I still don't think we should let them off easy. Stick trackers on them or something." Buttercup mumbled causing both her sisters to smile at her.

"Don't worry. We won't let them off easy. We'll watch them like hawks and if they screw it up, we'll be there to stop them. Just like we always do." Buttercup smirked at that, then glared at Blossom.

"I'm still mad that you did that though. You should have told us about talking with Mayor Bellum." Blossom smiled at that.

"Weeelll, it has been a while since I last proved why I'm obviously the leader," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder, screaming confidence. Buttercup smirked while Bubbles giggled. "Shall we maybe fix that? Three way training session. First one to fall cooks dinner tonight. Gives you a chance to maybe take out some frustration?"

All three girls smiled at one another before Bubbles and Buttercup caught the loser’s punishment.

"Uh-uh. You don't get to cook Bloss. Last time you were in the kitchen the professor had to buy a new pot set! How about instead, you do the winners laundry for a week," Buttercup said before taking off for home. Bubbles giggled at the look on Blossom's face.

"I agree with Buttercup there Bloss. No cooking for you! Ooo! And it's even spirit week this next week! That means if I win I can go as crazy as I want!" Bubbles said, taking off after Buttercup, giggling like mad. Blossom's eyes widen to the point of looking like saucers.

"Now hold up girls! It wasn't that bad! Also, Bubbles, what did we say last year about spirit week. Bubbles! Are you listening to me?!"


	4. 10th Grade Prank

Thursday really was her favorite day. Far enough in the week that you can look back and feel good about what you've done but also not Friday so you didn't have quiet so strong an urge to slack off. Blossom's Saturdays and Sundays tended to be booked full with all sorts of events and projects that she never really _enjoyed_ either day. She enjoyed what she did, don't get her wrong, but they were still busy days for her. Thursdays were her lightest day of the week. No dance, no flower arranging, no student council meetings. It gave her the chance she needed to breathe a little.

That was how she'd managed to pick up this habit of hers. Her last class of the day was a free period this semester and while throughout the week she used it to complete her homework, everything was usually done come Thursday. Instead, she took herself off to the student council room for the 10th grade class and locked herself inside. She'd then spend the next hour reading before she would take herself off to the library to help Ms. Simone. Only the other 10th grade council members had a key so even though at this point everyone knew where she was, nobody could really do anything about it. Robin and Princess would skin the other members alive if they let someone interrupt her rest time. She really appreciated them for that.

It was because of this that her guard was so down. She hadn't been expecting anything out of the normal. The hallway was still busy as well so she hadn't even been able to hear that extra click that sounded when she opened the door, head down, taking the key out of the door.

She froze when she felt the liquid hit her head, there was enough of it to cover her almost head to toe. She was quick to close her eyes, though she doubted it would have hurt either way, and so it was the smell that made her realize what it was. Tar. It was while she was processing this that she felt something solid launch towards her. Unsure of what it was or who was behind her, Blossom could only brace as the item seemed to break apart and pelt her body just about everywhere. Blossom was about to move at this point, to clear the tar off her eyes, when she felt one last thing, cylindrical in shape, land on her chin followed shortly by the soft click of a camera.

The hallway had gone silent around her. Slowly, Blossom lifted her hand and wiped the tar away from her face. She looked down at herself.

Stuck to her chin was an orange beak. On top of the tar, she was covered in feathers. She looked towards where the flash had sounded from and saw a digital camera hooked up to a computer displaying an 'uploaded' message. Next to the camera was a tattered red ribbon. She felt her blood boil at the sight of it.

"Oh. My. God. Blossom!" She heard Bubbles from somewhere to her right. She didn't turn, not even when Bubbles was standing right next to her. "This is, I can't even, oh my god."

Barely hearing her sister she felt the lasers in her eyes build as she continued to glare at the ribbon.

"Why's everyone just standing around so-fuck. Bloss." Buttercup zoomed over in a flash of green. Both sister flinched when she finally let the eye beams burn the ribbon to ash. "What happened?"

"Berserk," Blossom barely ground out.

"Shit."

"Oh, Blossom, let's get you home and cleaned up. Ugh, it's all over your hair! Oh this is going to be such a nightmare to clean up! Maybe if we're quick we can get most of it out. I'm already checking to see how to get whatever set in out as well."

"While you two do that, I'm going to go kill a skank," Buttercup said with a crack of her knuckles. Blossom swung around and glared at Buttercup though, causing her to flinch back. Blossom was beyond pissed.

"No. We do not, do you hear me? Do. Not. Do. Anything. You will not go after her."

"But Bloss, this is messed up! Even for her! We can't just let it go!" Buttercup complained. Blossom held up a hand to stop her, frowning as she saw it was still dripping slightly over the floors.

"No Buttercup. Knowing Berserk there won't be a single piece of concrete evidence that it was the punks. Unless we have that we will not do anything."

"But Bloss-"

"No Buttercup! I mean it! I don't want to hear that the ruffs have done anything either so don't even think of asking them to do it instead. Now, if you don't mind, I think I'll head home for the day. Possibly the week. If you could please have someone clean this up I would greatly appreciate it."

And with that Blossom floated up and away from her sister, Bubbles quick to follow still looking on her phone for the best way to get the tar out of her sisters hair. Buttercup glared at the mess and the room and floated over to the computer. Her sister was right but she still didn't like it. Buttercup was also seriously concerned as to where these photos were uploaded to. Hopefully that wouldn't come back to bite them in the ass.

* * *

It came back to bite them in the ass alright. The pictures were everywhere. Buttercup was thankful that Bloss and Bubs were still back at home, although she wasn't happy as to why. The tar had set into Bloss's hair and Bubs was going insane trying to get the stuff out. Bloss had been so upset she'd not only cried about it but had spent the whole morning buried in her pile of pillows. Bubs had had to coax her out with a cup of hot chocolate so she could get started again.

She scanned the school with her x-ray vision. Fuck. They were literally everywhere. Fuck!

Robin and Princess stood at the school entrance next to her, waiting for her to say something. Buttercup pulled slightly at her hair in slight despair. She wasn't sure how best to go about this. There had to be thousands in the school. Seriously, did the punks really have that much free time on their hands?!

Buttercup was so distracted by the sight of the school that she didn't notice the ruffs landing next to her.

"Party at the gates?" Boomer asked, giving them all a very confused look. "Where's the rest of the group?"

Robin bit at her lip while Princess rolled her eyes. Buttercup glared at them.

"You mean you didn't hear?" Princess asked. The ruffs exchanged a look. Clearly they hadn't.

"What happened?" Brick asked, looking straight at Buttercup. God, she did not want to deal with this! Bloss just had to go and say the ruffs weren't allowed to do anything either. Brick might have calmed down a lot but he was still a hot head and all three of the ruffs had a hard time dealing with people messing with what they considered their ‘turf’. Might not be enough to get them to help with the crime fighting but this? This was their school where they were the kings. This prank was going to piss all three of them off.

"You're not allowed to go off at them. I'm not saying jack shit until you promise me that. All three of you, I need your word on this," Buttercup said with a pointed glare at each. Butch and Boomer shared a look before turning to Brick for the final decision. He watched her for a few seconds before looking off in the direction of her house, as if expecting to see that familiar pink streak of the leader and commander and a steak of baby blue following just a little later in the day than normal. Obviously that didn't happen.

"Fine. You have our word." Buttercup looked at both Boomer and Butch.

"Big red says you've got our word then you've got it."

"What they said."

Buttercup sighed and crossed her arms. Alright, step one done. Now to find the right words to use so that they didn't immediately go back on it. Bubs was so much better at this than her. She was not the right puff for the job!

"There was a prank. On leader girl. Yesterday. Probably by the punks."

With each sentence the ruffs tensed slightly more till all three were glaring at Buttercup. Princess and Robin both took steps back so that they were behind their friend.

"Okay, we need a little more than that Buttercup," Brick near growled out. Great, territorial puppy dog pack mode had been activated. Shit.

"Calm down hat head. Remember, you gave me your word. All of you did." They forced themselves to relax slightly at this but it was pretty obvious they knew this wasn't good news. Buttercup sighed.

"Leader girl stayed home with Bubbles. They're working on fixing the damage. Unfortunately, I get clean up duty here. There was a photo taken of what happened and thousands of copies have been printed and scattered through the school. I do not want Blossom to ever see a single one. So, I have to find them. All of them."

Brick regarded her for a moment before holding out his hand. Buttercup clearly wasn't going to tell them what happened but they must have already found one photo to know about the others. Robin hesitantly walked over and handed it to him before running back behind Buttercup. All three ruffs looked at the photo.

"Fuck." Was Boomer's response. Brick shoved the photo at his brother's before turning and walking off.

"No going after them!" Buttercup yelled at him just to be sure. He waved her off and flew straight up. Princess and Robin shielded their faces at the blast of flame he let off once he was high enough. The heat was intense even with how far they were from him.

"They haven't gotten it all out yet?" Butch asked as he glared at the photo in his hands. Buttercup shook her head.

"Most of it was easy enough to get out. Some of it set though and tar isn't easy to get out of hair apparently. The professor says the X in our hair may also be making it more difficult for once. There's still black spots everywhere."

Boomer looked up at his brother who was still up in the sky. He was panting and smoke was very visible, even for those who didn't have x-vision.

"Don't let Brick hear that. He might just say screw it if he does," Boomer mumbled at her. She scowled but nodded.

"Well, how do you wanna do this? Split the school four ways?" Butch asked as he scanned the school with his x-ray vision as well. Buttercup hadn't been lying. They were everywhere.

"Spilt the school?" Buttercup asked. Princess and Robin both rolled their eyes. Buttercup was able to understand that the boys would be angry enough to go after the punks but still had a hard time thinking of them as being helpful. Butch gave her a look.

"Well, seeing as how we can't just go blast the punks, gotta do something. No way I'm gunna be able to sit through class today."

Boomer nodded as Buttercup finally saw it. Small blues sparks kept flying off of Boomer and green flashes of light kept flying up and disappearing around Butch. Both boys were tense too. Clearly Brick, who was still blowing smoke up in the air, was not the only one having a hard time controlling himself right now. Buttercup silently thanked them both for being willing to help.

"That'd be best. To split it four ways though we need four people. Preferably ones with X-ray vision," Buttercup said cutting off both Robin and Princess. They pouted at her while Butch and Boomer exchanged a look.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" Butch asked. Boomer scoffed at him.

"Fuck that. You've got the shield. You go. Plus, I took out the trash yesterday when you forgot so you owe me."

Butch scowled at his younger brother for a few seconds before flying off to talk to his older one.

"Think he'll go after them?" Buttercup asked as she watched the two boys in the air talk. Brick was still very not happy.

"Depends. Who said not to go after the punks?"

Buttercup scoffed at that. "Who else? Why do you think I'm still standing here and not in Citiesville? Fuck, if I had my way I'd still be tearing them to pieces. You don't mess with the hair. Berserk better just consider herself lucky that leader girl had a random ribbon on yesterday and not her red bow."

Boomer winced. "That would have been bad. Still, if it was Blossom that gave the order then we should be fine. Brick won't go against her on this, not when she was the one wronged."

"Good. Cause I was the one given the order to stop you ruffs if need be."

"Ha! That would not have been pretty. Still, she's not getting away with this." Boomer gave her a look. Buttercup returned it.

"Duh. We just have to do it in a way leader girl won't catch onto. Or at least, wait until she’s cooled off a bit and willing to turn a blind eye. Also, you two are not listening to this conversation right now, hear me?" Buttercup said as she turned to Robin and Princess. Robin looked offended while Princess was examining her nails.

"I wasn't born yesterday Buttercup," Princess said.

"You think I'd tip Blossom onto a revenge scheme she'd just stop? I'm not an idiot!" Robin added.

Buttercup nodded and looked back up. Brick had finally stopped smoking. It was a good thing that the professor had found a way to fireproof his clothes though, otherwise he'd need a hell of a wardrobe change after all that heat he'd let off. They quickly made their way back down.

"Alright. Let's get started. I'll take north, Butch you take west, Buttercup east and south is all you Boom."

Brick didn't even wait to see if they would agree before stalking off towards the north part of the school. Buttercup sighed but decided it wasn't worth the argument. It was fair and they were helping. She'd just let it go. For today.

* * *

"Fina-fucking-ly. That's the last god damned fucking one of these shitty things. Fuck!" Butch yelled as he threw the last one in his bag. Buttercup raised an eyebrow at that.

"Butch. Shut up," Boomer said. He was lying face down on the in the grass not far from where they stood.

"Seriously? Why're you so pissed anyways?" Buttercup asked. Butch whirled to glare at her.

"Because I've had to go around all fucking day and pick these fucking things up and there isn't anything I can fucking pound the living fucking shit out of," he growled out at her through gritted teeth. She rolled her eyes.

"If anyone should be pissed right now it should be me. Bubbles texted me asking me to pick up some cookies on my way home. Do you know what that means?" All three ruffs gave her a blank look. She rolled her eyes.

"It means that Bubbles hasn't had time to bake and Blossom's upset enough to be on a sugar craze. And she hates store bought cookies thanks to Bubbles always spoiling her. She's probably buried under pillows right now refusing to even leave her room," Buttercup mumbled the last part. Boomer winced while Butch glared at the bag of photos, clenching and un-clenching his jaw. Brick just walked over and snatched the bag out of Burch's hand, quickly burning it to ash.

"Not a fan of store bought huh," Brick mumbled to himself as they all watched the ash slowly blowing away. Not much was doing so. They'd probably have to clean that up.

"Yeah, she always moans and groans about how they 'just aren't right'," Buttercup said with a heavy sigh. "Shit this sucks."

"Well, what if I said you don't have to get her store bought cookies?" Boomer said as he stood up, brushing himself off.

"What the hell else would I get her? I can cook yeah but bake? Nuh-uh. Not gunna happen."

Boomer risked a glance at Brick who was still watching the ash not really blow away. He glanced up for a second and met Boomer's eyes before looking back at the ash. Not a no, Boomer thought.

"Look, just tell them that I'll have something home made for them soon."

Buttercup glared at him. "I don't think you understand what you're asking from me."

Boomer rolled his eyes. "I promise they'll be bomb cookies. What's her favorite kind?"

Buttercup regarded him for a second before sighing and giving in. "If you don't bring me awesome cookies before 7 tonight, you’re dead blue boy. She loves when Bubbles makes her these red velvet chocolate chip ones. Snickerdoodle's a close second though."

Boomer glanced at Brick again. His brow was furrowed but still no shake of the head.

"Consider it done. I'll be by before 7."

* * *

"That better be him. If it isn't him then imma kill that boy tomorrow, first thing," Buttercup grumbled as she stalked to the front door. She winced at the sound of another soft sob followed by soft words from both the professor and Bubbles. This was a nightmare. It still wasn't all out. None of them would even consider that they might have to cut her hair. That wasn't an option. Buttercup threw open the door once she reached it. Boomer was standing there with two plastic containers that both looked full with cookies.

"Managed to get both. Really hope she likes 'em." He said as he immediately held them out to her. She glared at him but winced as he flinched at the sound of another soft sob.

"Thanks."

And then she slammed the door in his face. She seriously hoped Brick baked as well as he cooked otherwise she'd have no choice. She'd have to punch his face in if these didn't cheer her leader up, if only because that might just do it instead.


	5. The First Fight

The mayor flinched as she watched the monster swat Bubbles carelessly halfway across the city. It was one of those seasons where monsters seemed to never stop. This was the fifth one this week alone and it was only Tuesday!

She drummed her fingers along her desk as she continued to watch the fight. It was clear the girls were tired. While none of the fights had caused any serious damage they still took a few hits every fight. The professor had explained to her the ins and outs of how chemical X worked when she took on the boys. It was like any other substance the body made but worked in overdrive. All the X made individuals' bodies had the ability to create it quickly and it fueled not only their powers but also their healing. It was what allowed them to take hit after hit like this. That said, there bodies weren't able to make it endlessly. They needed time to recover, recharge, and refuel. The professor said that after a normal monster fight it usually took about 24 hours for the girls to fully recharge their stores, assuming no serious injuries like broken bones.

That obviously hadn't happened this week.

She bit her thumb as Buttercup launched herself at the monster knocking it onto its back. Normally she would quickly follow up with a fury of punches. Today however, she took the chance to take a deep breath and wipe the sweat off her forehead. With it being summer she wasn't surprised that the girls were drenched in sweat but even she knew this was more than normally. Finally making her decision she picked up her phone and dialed one of the few numbers she bothered to memorize.

"Bellum? What's up?" The voice on the other line said.

"Hi Brick. I was hoping you boys could maybe do me a huge favor."

* * *

"BUTTERCUP STOP!" Blossom screamed at her sister only to be completely ignored. With a roar Buttercup launched herself at the monster again. This time however she wasn't paying attention to what the monster was doing and ended up being smacked like an annoying fly out of the way.

Blossom's shoulders dropped. It would take her a minute or two to recover from that and Bubbles still wasn't back. Steeling herself Blossom flew at the monster in a circle just out of its reach shooting off a series of energy blasts. She grit her teeth as the monster roared and, with a swipe of its tail, took out yet another building.

She didn't know what to do! The monster was pretty battered looking at this point but that just seemed to make it angry. It was stomping about like crazy and that tail was really starting to get on her nerves! It kept knocking out buildings! The thing had way too much stamina too. It had fought them all the way from the edge of the city to where they now stood in city center. She was going to have to apologize to the mayor for all the damage.

While she was trying to think of what to do she missed the monster taking a step towards her, putting her just in range. With a quick movement the monster swatted her away in a manner similar to Buttercup. With a gasp as the air was knocked out if her she went flying backwards through two buildings and landed with a crash in the center of a third.

She gasped frantically for a second as she tried to catch her breath finally managing to do so with a large gasp. She lay there for a second to try and catch her bearings. She was just so tired and she didn't know what to do. It was summer, this was supposed to be their relax time! She honestly felt like crying at this point.

With a groan she stood and made her way to the giant hole she'd made in the building because of the monster's hit. She watched as it roared and punched through another building. Yup. She felt like crying.

Which wasn't allowed. Taking a deep breath in Blossom squared her shoulders and shot back at the monster. When she got close enough she took in a deep breath and let loose a scream packed full with all her frustrations, hoping to stun it at the least. The monster spun and with another roar let loose a blast of fire that she was not expecting. She quickly brought her arms and legs up to block out as much of the flames as she could. The pain from the flames licking up her arms and around to her back caused her to gasp and for a moment, while surrounded by the flames on all sides, she felt her flying ability drop, causing her to do just that.

With a screech she began to plummet to the ground. She grit her teeth quickly after and concentrated only to realize, in a moment of panic, that her X was too low. She was plummeting and couldn't stop. She flinched and closed her eyes at the sight of the fast approaching ground, bracing for impact.

The impact she felt was not one she was expecting though. She couldn't help but let out an 'oof' as a shoulder hit her solidly in her stomach, again knocking her breath out of her but also effectively stopping her descent. She opened her eyes and stared in shock at the black hair of her sister's counterpart flying her to a building top. Standing on said building were the remaining ruffs.

Butch dropped her carelessly as soon as they were near his brothers and she gasped as she not only caught her breath but also landed on a badly burned back.

"Well well. Lookie lookie. Seems the puffs ain't up to the job," Brick said with a sneer. She glared for a second before rolling onto her side to try and stand.

"What-" she gasped as she lost her balance and fell down onto her badly burned arms. Pretty much everything but her chest and stomach seemed badly burned at this point. "What are you doing here?"

"Bellum asked us to tag in. You girls ain't really gettin the job done here," Boomer said blandly. He was watching her struggle with a look of almost amusement on his face. She glared.

"We have this. We just need-"

"To stop messin’ up the city more. You Powderpuffs are seriously laughable right now. I mean fuck, where’s Butterbutt? Ain't no way imma not rub this in," Butch said with a sneer. His grin was a little bit of crazy mixed with malicious.

Blossom grit her teeth before finally pushing up onto her feet. She heard the sound of an impact from a ways behind her followed by a roar. Buttercup was back in action. She was worried that there was still no sign of Bubbles and seriously hopped her sister was okay.

"We have this. Why would you even want to help anyways? Even if the mayor did ask."

Brick scoffed and rolled his eyes at that. "Easy. Bellum promised us a new TV if we did this." Butch frowned at this while Boomer shot a quick glance at him. Blossom caught both actions but brushed them off.

"Of course she did. We have this. Go home ruffs."

With that she launched off back at the monster, enough X back in her system to start back in on the fight. She heard a serious of curses from behind her that made her frown. They had such crude language she couldn't stand it.

"Pinky! Stop!" Brick yelled at her. She ignored him and took a deep breath in letting her inner storm mix with it. When she was close enough to the monster she let loose as Buttercup dropped back.

"Still don't see Bubbles!" Her sister yelled at her as Blossom coated the monster in a layer of ice. That would buy them a second or two.

"I know. Do you remember which direction she was sent in?"

"Doesn't matter. Boom, find her," Brick said as he reached the two girls. Boomer nodded before zipping down into the city in a flash of crackling dark blue.

"Oh hell no! What are they doing here?!" Buttercup yelled. Blossom sighed.

"Nothing. Ignore them. We need to-"

"Pull back. You're both too tired to do shit all," Brick cut in again. Blossom glared at him.

"We have th-" her X faltered again and she reached out for her sister as she once again began to drop. Buttercup was slow to react, too tired from the fight herself, and missed catching her sister’s hand.

She didn’t have a chance to yell or anything though as Brick zoomed forward and caught her by the arm. She yelled in pain as his hand closed around the burns on her arm and she barely registered him grimace at the sound.

"Stubborn puff! Would you listen to me?!" He growled as he pulled her up and instead wrapped an arm around her stomach letting her hang over it like a towel. She groaned and squirmed away from the heat of his chest against her burned back. "And stop squirming before I drop you!"

"Too hot," she couldn't help but whimper slightly. Her counterpart growled lightly at this.

"Shit Bloss. Those burns," Buttercup said as she finally realized what state her sister was in.

"Yeah, those burns. You remaining X is working overtime on those. You don't have enough to maintain steady flight so would. You. Stop. Squirming!"

"Um bro? Monsters moving again," Butch chimed in, looking way too happy about it. Brick growled again.

"Keep it busy," he said tersely before zooming to the roof of a building seemingly out of the line of fire. Buttercup followed. When he reached it he set Blossom down a little more gently than Butch had but she still fell to her knees and gasped with pain as she did so.

"Look, you don't have the X to fight so stay here. The ruffs will take care of this."

"To hell with that! This city is ours to protect! We don't need the help of villains!" Buttercup growled out. Brick glared at her as Blossom tried to take come calming breaths and stand.

"She's right. We've all fought in worse states. We have-"

"Would you stop fucking saying that!" Brick yelled at her. She glared at him.

"Language."

"Fuck off and stay here. My brothers and I'll take care of this."

As he said this Boomer landed on the roof, Bubbles carried bridal style in his arms out cold.

"Found her," he said. Buttercup rushed over.

"Bubs, shit!"

She helped him to set her gently on the roof as Blossom slowly came over.

"We need to get her to the professor. Her being knocked out is not a good sign," Blossom said looking her over, trying to see what was wrong without touching her.

"Boom. Help Butch. I'll be there in a sec," Brick said. His brother nodded and took off towards his cackling brother. "I need to hear you say you'll stay here. Last thing I need is for you puffs to get in the way."

Blossom glared at Brick before turning to Buttercup. "Take her to the professor."

Buttercup nodded and carefully picked Bubbles up before taking off. Blossom dug into her barely held together pocket and pulled out two earpieces. She held on out to Brick.

"We usually don’t use these unless there's more than one monster at a time. They aren't very long distance but they should help us keep in touch."

Brick turned his nose up at them before taking a step back.

"The hell I'd need that for? We don't need help from a puff," he snarled at her. She glared before shoving one in his direction.

"You put that in or I'm taking off for the monster right now."

Brick grit his teeth and the two glared at each other for a moment before Brick finally took one off her and shoved it in his ear.

"Try not to distract me too much Pinky," he said before blasting off for the monster. She put her own headpiece in before shuffling to the edge of the roof to watch the fight.

She sat gently on the edge and sighed watching. Unlike her method which relies more on speed and accuracy the ruffs method seemed to be punch fast and punch hard. She begrudgingly had to admit that the ruffs seemed to be doing more damage than they had. She tried to tell herself that it was simply because her and her sisters had been having a rough week. Logically though, she knew the ruffs were simply physically stronger than the puffs. The Puffs were faster nowadays though.

She watched as the monster spun and whacked both Boomer and Butch of into the distance. A string of curses came through the ear piece.

"Language. It's flexible and quick. Its tail seems to have the most power and it likes to use it. It's not afraid to punch though.

"Fuck off Pinky! I have my own eyes. I can see all that!"

"Language!"

Butch and Boomer were quick to re-join the fight and they continued with the same attack pattern as before. Blossom sighed. She saw the monster take in a deep breath and panicked slightly.

"It breathes fire!" She yelled loudly for all three boys to hear. She saw Brick flinch away and curse the earpiece but all three boys were able to pull back in time to avoid the blast of flame.

"Well, guess that explains the burn. Shit Pinky that's about as hot as my flame. Why the hell'd you let that hit you?"

"I didn't let it do anything! It caught me off guard."

She heard Brick snort through the communicator again and glared at him. Thankfully he didn't reply and instead ordered his brothers about again.

Boomer flew in while creating a giant electric bat that he used to swing at the monster's head. Butch, again cackling, flew in and began throwing punches at everything he could. Brick took a deep breath in and, in the second that his brothers pulled back, zoomed in and let the monster get a taste of its own medicine. Blossom sighed.

"I don't think that's going to work," she said in a sing song voice, just to be annoying. As she expected, the monster didn't even flinch at the flames and reached out to grab Brick. Caught slightly off guard Brick wasn't able to react fast enough to get away.

"Fuck!"

"Language!"

"Would you stop saying that!"

Boomer was quick to launch a spear of electricity at the monster as it squeezed Brick tightly. It screamed as the spear made contact, zapping the monster and making it release Brick. Butch flee in to deliver a powerful uppercut and Boomer quickly followed up as Brick flew back coughing.

"Shit! That hurt. Fucker!"

"Please! Language!"

"I have zero reason to listen to you keep telling me that! Shut up or be useful! Choose!"

Blossom huffed. "My ice breath kept it still for a little bit before you ruffs took over. It wasn't a full ice breath either."

Brick turned to glare across the city at her. "Do you even have a full on ice breath?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I've been sitting here a bit. I can maybe do about double or triple what I did before but that still probably isn't full blast."

"I'm coming over there."

He zoomed over after barking at his brothers to keep the thing busy. She sighed as he reached her but didn't make a move to get up.

"I'm going to have to fucking carry you aren't I?"

She glared at him. "Language. And yes. If you want me to make this as strong as I can then I can't be wasting the little X I have left on flying over myself now can I?"

"Okay. That's it! We're both leaders. I'll let you lecture and tell my brothers off all you like but you have to stop trying to be miss bossy with me! You have no right!" Brick growled while jabbing a finger into a burn. She hissed and pulled back with a glare. She supposed that was fair enough. Assuming he extended the same courtesy.

"Only if you do the same."

He grit his teeth but nodded. "No more 'language'," he said in a mockingly high pitched voice. She glared some more. "Now, how do you want to do this?"

He was giving her a look of disgust that she couldn't help but mimic. Oh this would not be pleasant. She didn't like being in the same room as her counterpart but usually was able to put up with it. Now she had to let him carry her? Gross. Also probably going to be painful considering the state of her body. She carefully stood up.

"I need to be able to take a deep breath in. It would probably be best if you put your arm around my waist, my arm around your shoulder, and carried me that way."

"I already hate this," he mumbled as he went over to do that. Both flinched slightly at the first contact and how close they each were to one another.

"That makes two of us. Let's just get this over with please. Quickly."

"Oh I plan on it. Take a deep breath Pinky."

He fly slowly up into the air to make sure he had a tight enough grip on her first. She hissed at the pressure on both her arm and back. The burns would definitely take a while to heal. It didn't help that her counterpart simply ran hot normally. His natural body heat plus the summer heat was killing her. Still, she did as he said and he wasted no time in zooming over to the monster.

She drew in as much air as she could and threw all of her X into fueling the winter in her lungs. She wanted to hiss from pain as the X receded from her burns making her feel the full force of them. Brick cast a glance at her and picked up the pace.

With Butch and Boomer distracting it Brick was able to fly straight up to the monster. As soon as they got close enough Blossom let loose. The monster shrieked as it became frozen. The second she was done Butch zoomed straight at the center of the monster and shattered the entire thing as he flew straight through it.

Blossom flinched and again began to squirm trying to get away from the heat Brick was letting off. He growled before heading to a nearby building and letting her go. She gasped as she pulled away and fell this time to her hands and knees. She was shaking at the lack of X coursing through her system. She faintly hear Brick tell his brothers to head home. She looked up at him as his feet entered the edge of her vision.

"Well. That was a thing."

She could hear the sneer in his voice and just grunted in response. She felt her X start to kick back in and slowly went to stand as the shaking stopped. She gulped heavily as she finally stood and began to wonder how she was going to get home. She glanced at her counterpart who was looking down that the frozen monster bits scattered across the city.

"Yeah. A thing." She looked off in the direction of her house. Seriously she had no clue how she was going to do this. She was barely standing.

"It wasn't for a TV," Brick mumbled. She turned and frowned at him.

"What?"

He sighed and glared at her. "We didn't do this for a new TV." It took her a second to realize what he was talking about. "Bellum was worried about you puffs. Asked us to lend a hand so we did."

She watched him as he glared down at the mess for a little bit before responding. "You three really care about her don't you?"

He spun to glare at her. "No clue what you're talking about Pinky. We don't care ‘bout no one other than one another."

She saw him gulp as he continued to avoid looking at her. She thought about giving him a hard time about it but she was too tired at that point. She took a deep breath before heading the edge of the building closest to home. Might as well get started.

"What are you doing?" Brick asked. She looked back at him to see him frowning at her.

"Going home. The city has teams to clean the mess up."

"Yeah yeah I know that. How the hell do you plan on getting home though? You can barely walk."

She blinked at him confused. "Well, I don't really have much choice. I'm on the top of a very tall building. The best way to get home seems to be to fly."

She slowly and Brick's glare got harsher with each word. He growled lightly when she finished.

"You can barely fucking walk Pinky. How the hell do you plan on flying?"

She bit her tongue slightly at the language and glared at him. "Like I said, there isn't much of a choice now is there?"

She watched him for a bit waiting for him to respond but Brick stayed quite. She was pretty sure he was grinding his teeth but she wasn't sure what he was getting so annoyed about. If she could barely walk there was no way she'd make it home by walking. Flying would be faster and probably use less energy in the long run. She just hoped she had the X to take off and stay in the air.

She huffed when Brick continued to stay silent and continued to the edge of the building. She took a deep breath and was about to take off when he spoke again.

"Wait."

She turned back to him, question clear on her face. He turned to look away as she did that and now she could see that he was indeed grinding his teeth. It wasn't a habit either her or her sisters had so she couldn't help but wonder about how much his X enhanced teeth could take of that. He should probably break that habit before they found out.

"Yes?" She asked when he continued to stay quite. He still wouldn't look at her. "Brick!" She snapped. He growled and glared at her.

"I'll fly you back," he mumbled. She blinked at him, confused.

"What?" She asked dumbly. He glared at her.

"I'll fly you back. If you try and fly back like this your just gunna end up passed out on the ground."

Blossom knew she was making a face but couldn't help it. "Why?"

He growled. "Cause Bellum wanted us to make sure you puffs got back safe. She finds out you fell 100 feet cause I let you fly home alone she ain't gunna be pleased now is she?"

"I guess not," she said hesitantly. Brick stomped over to her.

"Great, we agree. Hold on."

This time instead of asking what worked for her Brick picked her up and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of flour. She was quick to protest but he growled back.

"Your stomachs the only place not burned. I don't like carrying you this way any more than you do but it's the only way my body heat won't irritate those damned burns so shut up and don't squirm for once."

She stayed quite at that and did as asked. Neither said another word even after he dropped her off at her house, a silent agreement to never speak of the moment again. Ever.


	6. Mojo's Finally Caught?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So I'm still not reading to post anything on the main story but I've had this sitting around for a bit and thought, why not? I actually meant to post this waaay before now but oh well. Enjoy!

The three boys floated above the impressive building. To be honest, calling it a building was putting it lately. The new supers’ jail was a masterpiece of security. Butch and Boomer both looked to their leader who was frowning down at it, arms crossed.

"This is insane. I can't believe they actually managed to build the thing," Brick said, mostly to himself. Examining the building with his X-ray vision wasn't providing much insight.

The building had been built taking in X-ray vision potential after all. Mojo had ranted a few years ago over the fact that the professor had been asked to provide insight on the building’s construction. It had trickled through the underworld and everyone had known what that meant. Not even the Rowdyruff Boys would be able to break out. All precautions against every super power imaginable would have been taken.

"Can't be that bad," Boomer said hesitantly. Both Butch and Brick frowned at him. "Right?"

The other two sighed.

"It's bad blue boy. The fact we can't even see two thirds of the fucking thing is proof of that. Ain't no way we can break the chimp out of this shitty thing," Butch said with a huff.

"This is shit. What the hell we supposed to do now?" Brick growled to himself. His brothers exchanged glances but had no answer to that.

"Just crash at Mojo's?" Boomer offered after a little bit. Brick rolled his eyes.

"They ain't gunna let us do that. They government or whatever has stuff to stop kids like us from having no guardian or whatever. Not that Mojo was much of one of those anyways."

"So what? Who cares what the government wants?! Let's just do what we want like we always do bro!" Butch yelled. Brick again rolled his eyes.

"And when those damned puffs show up? They catch us they ain't throwin us in a normal cell anymore dipshit. We go in there, right alongside Mojo. You want that?"

Both Boomer and Butch shivered at the thought. They could barely stand a normal cell and always broke out after only a couple hours. The confinement of a cell, the bars, the small space, grated greatly on the nerves of all three boys. They didn't like being confined.

"Maybe Mojo'll break out?" Butch offered. Brick scoffed.

"Maybe. In like five fucking years. Ain't gunna be anytime soon. Shit. We're screwed."

The three boys fell silent again before Brick took back off towards Mojo's observatory, his brother quickly following. No point staying there. They wouldn't be breaking anyone out of that thing anytime soon.

When they arrived they all found themselves slumped into the sofa, blankly staring at the T.V. they had stolen just a few weeks prior. The puffs had given them hell but they'd managed to get away that time. It wouldn't always be that case though and that was the thought haunting the red headed boy.

Sometime later, hours potentially, there was a knock on the door startling all three boys. They exchanged glances before Brick floated up and over to the door. Checking who was there with his X-ray vision, he was still confused when he opened the door to find a nervous looking man in a suit.

"The fuck are you?" He asked. The man offered a hesitant, but clearly nervous, smile.

"Hello Brick. My name is Carl Leeman. I'm a lawyer and Mayor Bellum-" the man was cut off as the door slammed in his face.

"Tell the Mayor to fuck off!" Brick yelled. He stood at the door, continuing to watch the man with his X-ray. He glared at him when the man didn't turn around and walk away like he was supposed to.

"Brick. I know you're probably still there. You know as well as I do that with Mojo in the Lockdown and Him nowhere to be found still that you three can't just be left alone. You shouldn't have been even left with Mojo to be honest but as you were cared for there hasn't been any plausible reason for the city to take you three from him. Now though, we need to talk about how things have changed and will change going forward."

The man was clearly more comfortable talking to the door than he was to the super powered villain boy on the other side of it. Butch and Boomer had both floated over to stand behind their brother. Brick's face had continued to grow darker and darker with each word the lawyer had said. He was growling by the end of it.

"Mojo did jack shit and y'all knew that. We can look out for ourselves just like we have been. Tell the Mayor to fuck off!" Brick yelled at the man through the door. The man sighed in response.

"You boys looking out for yourselves means stealing I'm assuming? When that happens you know that the girls will be called to stop you and even if it doesn't happen the first or even the second time, they will stop you. When they do, you won’t be just given a slap on the wrist like you did before. We knew that throwing you in that jail wouldn't stop you but before Lockdown was completed there wasn't much choice. Each time you were caught there was also a lot of discussion that would occur on how to best punish you three. Do you really think we were all idiots to continue throwing you in that jail cell? With the idea that Mojo and Him as your father figures were leading you three to make poor life choices it was always agreed to let you three off lightly. Please, it's important that you at least listen to what the city has planned."

He paused here to wait for a response. Brick chewed on the inside of his check as he thought. Butch nudged him in the back slightly getting his attention. He didn't say a word but the look on his face said enough. Brick sighed.

"I'm listening."

The lawyer sighed in relief.

"Tomorrow at 11 there will be a meeting. I myself will be there as well as the mayor, a judge, and an opposing lawyer. Due to the unique nature of this, it was decided that the two sides would present to the most neutral judge we could find. Once both sides have been presented and argued for, the judge will make the final decision. While you three aren't allowed to be IN the room, if you're at the courthouse you'll be allowed to sit outside the room." The lawyer paused before chuckling slightly to himself. "I suppose it would be very similar to this. You would have the chance to say your part, but only if things start to go badly. We don't want to give the opposition the chance to say you forced this outcome. Do you understand?"

The boys exchanged a look before Brick turned back to the door.

"We'll think about it."

The lawyer sighed but knew there wasn't any point in pushing more.

"I hope to see you tomorrow then," and with that, the lawyer turned and walked away. The boys all watched him leave before Boomer and Butch turned to Brick.

"Bro?" Butch asked hesitantly. Brick continued to scowl at through the door at the retreating lawyer's back.

"Be up by ten tomorrow. And be quiet. I need to think," Brick said as he floated up and away from his brothers, heading to the stairs. Boomer and Butch watched him go before turning to face one another.

"GTA?"

Butch broke out in a smile. "Hell yeah!" He replied as both boys zoomed over to the console to begin their night of game playing, trusting that their older brother and leader would know what to do come morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, still not ready to post on the main story. I have until September until my classes start back up again so I'm trying to get a really good buffer behind me. I've almost finished the first round of edits for that and now I'm working on the next task I have. Starting the next story! That's right, I have another story I plan on writing. Actually, I have potentially another three. Two are most likely going to be written at some point, one of which I actually have a few chapters already drafted for. Thing is, unlike this one where I'm just having fun and not worrying too much those will be a lot more solid before being posted. In other words, unless I'm happy with the chapter I won't be posting. Because of that I really want to get slowly started on it. I'm hoping to have enough that I can at least drop a teaser soon but don't hold your breath (because by soon I mean in at least a few months).
> 
> Also...I finally finished watching Voltron. Guys. Don't be surprised if I start writing something for that fandom too.


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